It has been well documented in the history of the Telecommunications Industry that over the last 100 years PSTN services have been almost exclusively delivered to subscribers over Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) networks using a fixed landline network, in most cases twisted copper wire and of recent fiber optic cable. It is also well documented in the Telecommunications Industry that even today ILECs continue to use the same fixed landline network to not only deliver PSTN services, but additionally Broadband Internet and other Private Data services.
With the rewrite of the Telecommunications Act in 1996 the Telecommunications Industry saw many competitors to the ILEC like Cable TV Companies and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) begin offering PSTN, Broadband Internet and Private Data Services to the ILEC's subscribers. The CLECs and Cable TV Companies followed the ILECs lead and used the same fixed landline network infrastructure to deliver PSTN, Broadband Internet and Private Data services to their subscribers. In most cases the CLECs collocated large amounts of their own network equipment inside the very same buildings or Central Offices owned by their primary competitors the ILECs and leased last mile landline infrastructure from the ILECs in order to deliver services to their subscribers. Cable TV Companies took a different route and elected to spend billions of dollars to upgrade existing landline networks or build out new landline networks in order to deliver PSTN, Broadband Internet and other Private Data services to their subscribers.
Over time it became very evident that there were flaws in the CLEC's and Cable TV Company's business models. Even today, CLECs are still very dependent on the ILECs fixed landline networks and Central Offices to deliver PSTN, Broadband Internet and Private Data Services to their customers. Literally, CLECs are still at the mercy of the ILECs regarding network availability, technical support, provisioning time frames, service repair and ultimately the price they pay for such landline network elements. Simply put, the financial stability of a business model isn't very sound if your main source of network elements and collocation space are being provided by your primary competitor. The Cable TV Companies business model was not much better than the CLECs. When the Cable TV Companies discovered the ILECs were planning on providing bundled services packages for TV content, PSTN, Broadband Internet and Private Data services to their existing subscribers they reacted by spending billions of dollars to upgrade existing landline network or build out new landline network and switching in an attempt to beat the ILECs at their own game by getting into the business of providing PSTN, Broadband Internet Access and Private Data Services to their existing subscribers as well as the ILECs existing subscribers. However, this massive network upgrade took to many years and billions of dollars to accomplish which allowed the ILECs to significantly penetrate large portions of the Cable TV Company's market share by offering a bundled service package of satellite TV in conjunction with Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Internet access and PSTN services over their traditional landline network to the Cable TV Company's subscribers.
It became obvious to smaller CLECs and other small Telecommunications companies that following the CLEC's and Cable TV Company's previous business models would not generate immediate profits or quick returns on network investment. Faced with this financial realization, specific arrangements of apparatus and methods had to be created to overcome flaws associated with the dependency of indefinitely leasing high cost building space and landline network elements from the ILECs and/or investing billions of dollars and taking many years to build out new or upgrade existing landline network infrastructures in order to deliver PSTN, Broadband Internet Access and Private Data services to existing and potential subscribers. Preferably, the methods and apparatus should be capable of completely alleviating the dependency of leasing building space and landline network elements from the ILECs and provide a viable alternative to investing billions of dollars and taking many years to upgrade existing landline networks or build out new landline network infrastructures. Further, the methods and apparatus should be capable of delivering equal or greater levels of performance for PSTN, Broadband Internet Access and other Private Data services associated with today's landline network infrastructures.
One or more embodiments of the present invention accomplish the above by utilizing the apparatus and methods which allow for a low cost and rapid deployment of a TCP/IP over an Ethernet based transport network through a private fixed wireless network operating in the licensed and unlicensed frequencies to be used in the delivery of PSTN, Broadband Internet Access and other Private Data Services to subscribers attached to the TCP/IP over Ethernet based transport network through a private fixed wireless network operating in the licensed and unlicensed frequencies. Embodiments of the present invention may allow the above services to be delivered to the subscribers with equal to or greater than performance levels for PSTN, Broadband Internet Access and other Private Data Services typically associated with landline technologies. Embodiments of the invention may simultaneously eliminate the necessity of paying exorbitant cost to the ILECs for collocation and leasing their landline network elements or taking many years and spending billions of dollars to upgrade or build new landline network infrastructure. Embodiments of the invention may lower ongoing maintenance cost structures to only a fraction of that typically associated with traditional landline network infrastructures. Embodiments of the invention may allow for rapid subscriber installation time frames with significantly lower cost for materials and labor typically associated with the traditional landline network infrastructures as there is no necessity to build out a landline infrastructure from a Central Office to a subscriber.
Most importantly, when compared to traditional CLEC's and Cable TV Company's network build outs and business models, embodiments of the invention may keep small CLECs or other small Telecommunications company's initial investment dollars for their network build out lower. Embodiments of the invention may typically generate greater profit faster, increasing cash flow which should in turn decrease the time necessary to return invested dollars in network build out. As a result, embodiments of the invention may create more free cash to be used in important areas like advertisement, customer acquisition and further network deployment.
Accordingly, embodiments of the invention were created to help small CLECs and other small Telecommunication Companies effectively compete with larger Telecommunication companies using traditional landline network infrastructures like the ILECs and Cable TV Companies without having the burden of being subjected to the exorbitant cost associated with purchasing network elements and collocation from the ILECs, their primary competitors or investing billions of dollars and taking years to build out their own traditional landline network infrastructure.